provocative

Valid in Scrabble

Scrabble points
21
Words With Friends
25
Letters
11
Pronunciation
/pɹəˈvɒk.ə.tɪv/
See all 4 pronunciations
/pɹəˈvɒk.ə.tɪv/ · /pɹəˈvɑ.kə.tɪv/ · [pɹəˈvɑ.kə.ɾɪv] · /pɹəˈvɔk.ə.tɪv/

Definition of provocative

4 senses · 2 parts of speech · etymology included

adj

  1. Serving or tending to elicit a strong, often negative sentiment in another person; exasperating.
See all 4 definitions

adj

  1. Serving or tending to elicit a strong, often negative sentiment in another person; exasperating.
  2. Serving or tending to excite, stimulate or arouse sexual interest; sexy.
  3. Provoking or triggering any response.
    “[I]t is a terrible long and slippery descent, and a shocking bad road. At the bottom, however, there is a pleasant public; whereat we must really take a modest quencher, for the down air is provocative of thirst.”
    “And the ‘wailing noise,’ which had induced the prosaic, indurated London cabman to get twice off his box to see what was the matter, what anguish had been provocative of that?”

noun

  1. Something that provokes an appetite, especially a sexual appetite; an aphrodisiac.
    “She used by way of Provocative, to read the wanton Verses of her Paramour in the day time [...].”
    “[A]nd that one great and all-important occasion and provocative of these beliefs was actually the rise of self-consciousness — that is, the coming of the mind to a more or less distinct awareness of itself and of its own operation, and the consequent development and growth of Individualism, and of the Self-centred attitude in human thought and action.”
    “In Turkey, Iran, and Syria salep is popular as a restorative and also as a provocative to amatory activity.”

Definitions from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA.

Etymology

Borrowed from Middle French provocatif, and its source, Late Latin provocativus, from Latin provocare.

Words you can make from provocative

200+ playable · top: PROACTIVE (16 pts)

Best play proactive 16 points

8-letter words

5 words

7-letter words

16 words

6-letter words

44 words

5-letter words

100 words

4-letter words

34 words

Hooks

1 extension · 1 back

A single letter you can add to provocative to make another valid word.

Find your best play with provocative

See every word you can make from a set of letters that includes provocative, or browse word lists you can mine for high-scoring plays.